Setting: WASHINGTON, D.C.

Date: February 5th, 2026. (9 days until launch)

     It had been over several days since he had taken the oath of office, and it still hadn't really sunk in for Edgar. Even as he stood in the oval office, the literal symbol of his new job, it was hard for him to even believe this was happening to him. Edgar Harrison wasn't supposed to be the President of the United States. He was supposed to be the quiet VP who did all the press, carried the party line, and didn't ruffle any feathers. He was picked because he was a safe choice. He had no skeletons in his closet, was a family man, and rather popular in the polls because the people for some reason found it easier to trust him. He had done nothing to earn that trust, but he looked like someone that the people could and is why his polling data was so pretty to every pollster who collected it. It was like gold to them, and those damn pollsters could stop tripping over each other to sing what an amazing VP Edgar would make. He was an easy choice, and the rest as they say is history.

     This wasn't supposed to happen.

     The president as far as everyone could see was a pillar of health. He worked out a few times a week, jogged every morning with his detail, and even took the skin off his chicken. Despite having a full medical staff in the building that are trained to handle any type of emergency, the President succumbed to a pulmonary embolism which shocked the world, let alone the nation he strongly and robustly represented. It was just as shocking for a mild mannered, non-confrontational congressman known for being passive to suddenly become the most powerful man in the world with access to the nuclear football. He wasn't ready for it, and neither was the world for that matter. Other nations remained respectfully quiet, and did nothing while the nation mourned the loss of a great leader. Edgar had used that grace period to get used to the new surroundings, the new staff and his enormous new responsibilities. The day he was given the codes and the nuclear briefcase was quite disturbing. It wasn't that he would be eager to use them, but he was a man that thought no one person should have that kind of power, and suddenly he was that man.

     While his transition was going without a hitch so far, his family was another matter altogether. His wife didn't want to be first lady, to the point where she even suggested he resign and let the speaker of the house take over. As tempting as that idea might have been to Edgar, the house was ruled by the other party, so there was no way he was going to give the keys of the white house over to them to go with a house that could ram through any kind of legislation the wanted. There was no way he was going to toss his own party under the bus just because he felt uncomfortable assuming the duties that he agreed to in the first place when he accepted the job as VP. When he reminded his wife that this was part of the job they agreed to take on, she offered less resistance but still didn't like the spotlight they were being thrust into. The kids were taking their new home even less than his wife was. Both their son and daughter had pretty much spent the majority of their time locked away in their bedrooms, only letting the secret service check on them just to make sure they were alright.

     They were in full defiance mode, but their method of operations were vastly different. His daughter was going nuts on many social medias, more so on Instagram, but since it was nothing racy or political, they let her be. Their son decided to use video games to get away from reality, and had been losing himself in a super expensive virtual reality game for hours at a time. He once clocked twelve hours in the game, just laying on his bed, motionless. While the concept of the game freaked Edgar out just a bit, at least he wasn't shooting up heroin or doing anything else that might cause the White House to see embarrassing headlines in the papers. While he might have to do something about it later, Edgar literally had much bigger issues to deal with, like governing the free world and what not. His days were going to be too busy to handle stuff like the rebellion of the kids, and for the time being this was going to be his wife's problem, maybe a few government funded shrinks too.

     It was pretty quiet in the oval office when his wife Alice came in through the side door to speak with him.

     "Mr. President," She called out, even mocking him a little.

     "Seriously?" Edgar said, not in the mood. "You're going to do this too?"

     "I don't know," Alice said, thinking about it. "Power is very sexy."

     "I've heard that too." Edgar said, playing along now.

     "Any chance you can make it up to the residence for supper?" Alice asked, "I want to try to have dinner with the kids."

     "It's pretty slow today, so barring any incidents that looks likely." Edgar replied, "But do you have any plans on how to get the kids out of their rooms?"

     "Not yet," Alice admitted. "David is playing his game again. He's been logged in since nine this morning."

     "Why not just unplug it?" Edgar asked.

     "Can't do that." Alice answered, "That might harm him. We have to hit a button to inform him in game that it's time to log out. If we try to remove it before he logs out himself, that could cause permanent brain damage."

     "Seriously?" Edgar said, sitting up in his chair, "For real?"

     "We have to wait for him to come out," Alice added, "The perfect way to ignore us. He just has to stay logged in to avoid us."

     "Could be worse." Edgar confessed, "What he does in his room is alright as long as the media doesn't get wind of it."

     "Well, he doesn't have to worry about paying for it," Alice added, "The company that made the game has given him a free pass. They like the idea of the first kid playing their game as it's good press for them."

     "Well, that gives us an option." Edgar said, scratching his two-day beard, "We can always use the annulments clause to unplug him if we have to."

     "Let's not burn that bridge if we have to," Alice said, "The kids are having a hard enough time as it is already. Let them have the small things that make them happy."

     "Sounds like a plan," Edgar said, not wanting to make things worse. "But if he doesn't show up for supper and I do, we'll renew this conversation."

     "Alright," Alice said as she blew him a kiss on the way back to the door. "See you at the table."

     Just as she left the room a man named Victor, who was his chief of staff, can through his own private door to speak with him.

     "What's up Vic?" Edgar asked.

     "We have a small issue brewing in the middle east, Mr. President." Vic replied.

     "When isn't there something brewing over there?" Edgar poked half-heartedly.

     "Fair point," Vic conceded, "But we need to make a few calls, hold a few hands, and make sure some very powerful people don't panic."

     "Fair enough," Edgar said, understanding that now that he was President, it meant he was also sometimes the world's referee, and even shrink. "Do we need a translator for this one?"

     "Not this time," Vic said, "I'll get the switch board to forward it through."

     "Just don't make me late for supper," Edgar added, "And that's an order."